A week ago, San Francisco lost a defensive thriller in Baltimore. This week, they won a shootout in New Orleans against Drew Brees and the Saints. Doubt the 49ers all you want, but you can’t accuse them of not having range. In what may prove to be the biggest week of the season in terms […] More
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Trailing at home by 16 points in the third quarter on Sunday evening, the New England Patriots had already been booed off the field three times. Tom Brady, the epitome of cool, had snapped in the first half, furiously charging at a mammoth Kansas City defensive lineman after a jarring tackle. The […] More
NEW ORLEANS — Across the last month, the best team in the N.F.C. has been more of an abstract concept than an unassailable certainty. The contenders relish cannibalizing one another. The distinction shifts week to week. At the Superdome on Sunday, it changed from quarter to quarter, drive to drive, snap to snap. The final […] More
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Jets were looking at fourth-and-really-long — and another brutal loss to the Miami Dolphins. Until a penalty call changed it all. Sam Ficken kicked a 44-yard field goal as time expired to give the Jets a 22-21 comeback victory on Sunday afternoon after they benefited when an incomplete pass was […] More
The United States Military Academy has stripped a motto from its football team spirit flag because of its connection to hate groups, the academy said on Sunday. Since the mid-1990s, the Army Black Knights football team at West Point has been using a flag with a skull and crossbones and “G.F.B.D.”, which stands for “God […] More
MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United players were targeted with racist abuse and had objects thrown at them by Manchester City fans during Saturday’s derby at the Etihad Stadium. Kick It Out, a British anti-racism watchdog, said it had been “inundated with reports of alleged racist abuse from a number of individuals” at the game, which […] More
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — For the past 11 weeks, as rookie Daniel Jones has taken over the spotlight as the starting quarterback of the Giants, Eli Manning has been running the scout team at practice. As the backup quarterback, Manning played in the style of opposing quarterbacks to prepare the Giants defense for what they […] More
Get Rory Smith’s weekly newsletter on world soccer in your inbox every Friday. It’s free! Sign up here at nytimes.com/rory. The night the news broke, Everton was playing — and winning — at Villa Park. After years of waiting, the club had finally managed to snare a billionaire, the sort of benefactor who had the […] More
